The Pinnacle Club is a women's rock climbing club based in the United Kingdom, founded in 1921.

History

The Pinnacle Club – the UK’s only national rock-climbing club for women – was founded in 1921 by Emily Kelly (known as Pat), who first conceived of the idea and then, through her enthusiasm and energy, made it reality. In the 1920s, although increasing numbers of women were coming to climbing, they remained very much a minority. Though the

Fell & Rock Climbing Club The Fell & Rock Climbing Club of the English Lake District (in everyday usage the Fell and Rock Club or FRCC) is the senior climbing club covering the English Lake District. It was founded in 1906–1907 and, amongst its other activities, publi ...

, established in1906 for

Lake District The Lake District, also known as the Lakes or Lakeland, is a mountainous region in North West England. A popular holiday destination, it is famous for its lakes, forests, and mountains (or ''fells''), and its associations with William Wordswor ...

climbing, was open to both men and women, women were excluded from most climbing clubs. Women still tended to be viewed as secondary partners, with men predominantly taking the lead. The Pinnacle Club was founded to offer an alternative – a space where women could literally ‘learn the ropes’ together. Although the

Ladies' Alpine Club The Ladies' Alpine Club was founded in London in 1907 and was the first mountaineering club for women. It merged with the Alpine Club of Great Britain in 1975. History In December 1907 a group of ladies who were climbers in the Alps met in Lon ...

and

Ladies' Scottish Climbing Club The Ladies' Scottish Climbing Club was founded by Jane Inglis Clark, her daughter Mabel, and Lucy Smith at a boulder near Lix Toll, Perthshire in 1908. It now has about 120 members and is the oldest active climbing club exclusively for wome ...

had been set up in 1907 and 1908 respectively, they were focused on mountaineering. The Pinnacle Club, by contrast, was primarily about rock climbing. Its objectives were – and remain – to ‘foster the independent development of rock climbing amongst women and bring together those interested in the pursuit’. The Club was officially inaugurated on March 26, 1921 at a meeting in the Pen y Gwryd Inn, which still stands today just below Pen y Pass in

Snowdonia Snowdonia or Eryri (), is a mountainous region in northwestern Wales and a national park of in area. It was the first to be designated of the three national parks in Wales, in 1951. Name and extent It was a commonly held belief that the nam ...

. The Club began with 43 members, with Pat Kelly as Club Secretary and Eleanor Winthrop-Young as President. A letter was published in the Manchester Guardian soon afterwards, advertising the club’s existence and asking interested women to contact Pat Kelly. Tragically, Pat died the following year following a climbing accident in North Wales, but the Club she founded lived on. The Club organised weekend or week-long ‘meets’ around the UK, where members could come together to climb. Early venues included

North Wales , area_land_km2 = 6,172 , postal_code_type = Postcode , postal_code = LL, CH, SY , image_map1 = Wales North Wales locator map.svg , map_caption1 = Six principal areas of Wales common ...

, the

Skye The Isle of Skye, or simply Skye (; gd, An t-Eilean Sgitheanach or ; sco, Isle o Skye), is the largest and northernmost of the major islands in the Inner Hebrides of Scotland. The island's peninsulas radiate from a mountainous hub dominated b ...

, the

Yorkshire Dales The Yorkshire Dales is an upland area of the Pennines in the Historic counties of England, historic county of Yorkshire, England, most of it in the Yorkshire Dales National Park created in 1954. The Dales comprise river valleys and the hills ri ...

and the

Peak District The Peak District is an upland area in England at the southern end of the Pennines. Mostly in Derbyshire Derbyshire ( ) is a ceremonial county in the East Midlands, England. It includes much of the Peak District National Park, the southe ...

– all places where the Club runs meets today. In 1921, there were just nine meets in the calendar – in 2019 (before the Covid pandemic), there were 26. From the start, members also regularly climbed abroad, many having extensive Alpine experience and achieving many Alpine first female ascents. Today members continue to travel throughout Europe and beyond, enjoying all types of climbing:

sport Sport pertains to any form of Competition, competitive physical activity or game that aims to use, maintain, or improve physical ability and Skill, skills while providing enjoyment to participants and, in some cases, entertainment to specta ...

trad Trad. is often an abbreviation of the word "traditional". It may also refer to: Music *Trad jazz, a style of jazz music in the 1950s and 1960s *Néo-trad, a musical style that arose in Quebec around the turn of the 21st century *Irish traditional m ...

and

mountaineering Mountaineering or alpinism, is a set of outdoor activities that involves ascending tall mountains. Mountaineering-related activities include traditional outdoor climbing, skiing, and traversing via ferratas. Indoor climbing, sport climbing, a ...

. By 1945, the Club had just under 100 members, and this growth continued through the following decades. The Club in 2021 has 170 members, the youngest in their 20s and the oldest in their 90s. Eminent climbers who have been members over the years include

Nea Morin Nea Everilda Morin (née Barnard) (21 May 1905 – 12 July 1986) was a British rock climber and mountain climber. Morin climbed in the Alps in the 1920s, joined the Ladies Alpine Club, and met many climbers in the French . In 1928 she marri ...

, Dorothy Pilley, Brede Arkless, Jill Lawrence,

Gwen Moffat Gwen Mary Moffat (née Goddard; born 3 July 1924) is a British mountaineer and writer. Climbing career Moffat was an Army driver in the Auxiliary Territorial Service, stationed in North Wales after the end of the Second World War, when she ...

and Angela Soper.

International Events

The first international event held in

Llanberis (; ) is a village, community and electoral ward in Gwynedd, northwest Wales, on the southern bank of the lake and at the foot of Snowdon, the highest mountain in Wales. It is a centre for outdoor activities in Snowdonia, including walking, mo ...

in 1984 saw the first female ascent of an E5 by Jill Lawrence. In 2016 a second event was held with over eighty climbers of all standards, from making their first

traditional A tradition is a belief or behavior (folk custom) passed down within a group or society with symbolic meaning or special significance with origins in the past. A component of cultural expressions and folklore, common examples include holidays or ...

climb to climbing E7.

External links

Club websitePinnacle Club Centenary Project (1921-2021) website

References

{{Reflist Pinnacle Club minute books. Climbing clubs in the United Kingdom Climbing organizations Climbing in England Women's sports organisations in the United Kingdom Sports organizations established in 1921